1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to jackets or sleeves formed of transparent plastic film material, and more particularly to an album sleeve of this type adapted to snugly retain a baseball card or other media so that it does not fall out of the sleeve when the sleeve is manipulated.
2. Status of Prior Art
It is known to provide jackets or sleeves of transparent plastic film material for mounting photos. Thus, the Dorman U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,452,666 and 4,471,545 disclose a multi-channel jacket formed by superposed panels of transparent Mylar polyester film joined together by parallel ribs of adhesive material, thereby creating open-ended channels for receiving strips of microfilm.
The Shaine U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,026 discloses an album page for storing and displaying a photo, the page being formed of front and rear panels of clear polypropylene film bonded together by lines of adhesive.
The Hickman U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,544 discloses a transparent sleeve for protecting printed media. The sleeve is formed by a sheet of transparent film with a single fold dividing the sheet into two halves. A strip of double-faced adhesive tape runs the length of an edge of the sheet parallel to the fold, thereby holding the halves together to form a sleeve to receive the printed media.
The concern of the present invention is with the protective storage and display of baseball cards. A typical baseball card has printed on one side a picture of a well-known professional baseball player, the player being identified. Printed on the reverse side is data relating to this player, such as his batting record and biographical information.
Baseball is America's national game, and baseball cards have been popular and in circulation for at least 50 years. There are many adults as well as children and adolescents who are avid collectors of such cards. There is also a lively market for baseball cards, for the typical collector takes pride in the scope and quality of his collection and seeks to expand it by new acquisitions. The value of a baseball card depends both on its rarity and condition. Thus, a rare Jackie Robinson or Lou Gehrig baseball card in mint condition commands a higher price at an auction than one which is frayed, creased and soiled.
It is for this reason that many baseball card collectors, rather than putting their cards loosely in storage boxes, place them in protective transparent display jackets or album sleeves, not only to maintain them in good condition, but also so that both sides of each card may be viewed by turning the pages of the album. One commercially available open-ended album sleeve for this purpose takes the form of a rectangular blank of transparent plastic film material which is folded to define front and rear panels, the end of the front panel having a flap section that is folded behind the rear panel and bonded thereto to complete the sleeve. The dimensions of the sleeve are such that it will accommodate baseball cards which are end-loaded into the sleeve.
A pair of holes is punched in the upper margin of the sleeve so that the sleeve can be placed in a loose-leaf ring binder, the cards being received in the sleeve so that their upper edges are below the holes. The advantage of this transparent sleeve is that it displays both the front and rear sides of the baseball cards, and one does not, therefore, have to remove a card from the sleeve in order to read the data printed on the rear side.
The disadvantage of this prior sleeve is that it is oversized with respect to the dimensions of the two rectangular baseball cards contained therein, for the sleeve dimensions must be such as to allow for an upper border for the punch holes. Hence the cards are somewhat loosely held in the sleeve, and when the sleeve is manipulated as in turning the pages of a loose-leaf ring album in which the sleeves form the pages, the cards may then slip out of the open ends of the sleeve, and, as a result, possibly become damaged or soiled.